Three of Norway’s F35 fighter jets broke the stillness of the Easter holiday week on Wednesday, as they flew over the country’s northern areas closest to the Russian border. Air Force officials confirmed what they called a “training mission,” and it reflects how defense and national security are now viewed by a majority of Norwegians as their most important issues.
Residents of Vadsø, Bugøynes and Kirkenes were sharing accounts on social media of how the F35s were flying overhead just as Norway’s five-day Easter holiday weekend was getting underway. “The jets came from Evenes (the base near Narvik where they’re stationed as part of NATO’s preparedness forces),” Air Force spokesman Stian Roen told state broadcaster NRK. He noted how the F35s must be ready to fly within 15 minutes to “control and cut off unidentified aircraft” over Norway, “and our fighter jeg pilots are training regularly. We fly all over Norway to train and be ready for battle.”
Wednesday’s training comes just days after newspaper Aftenposten reported the results of a survey in which Norwegians were asked which issues are the most important for them in the run-up to the national election in September. They could choose among 13 different issues ranging from energy and immigration to elder care, health care, taxes, transportation, education, the economy and more.
The need for defense and security came out on top, chosen by fully 30 percent of those responding. Then came economic and workplace issues, listed as most important by 24 percent, followed by social differences among Norwegians with 22 percent. Even though tax issues get lots of media attention in Norway, only 19 percent of those responding to the poll (conducted for Aftenposten by research firm Respons Analyse) thought taxes and fees were most important. Environmental and climate issues have also fallen, deemed most important by 16 percent, while immigration and integration issues were chosen by just 11 percent.
Analysts viewed the new standings as a “dramatic” shift among Norwegian voters’ views. “Defense and security haven’t been viewed as so important since the 1980s,” election researcher Johannes Bergh of Norway’s Instutute for Social Research (IFS) told Aftenposten. He noted that only 6 percent of Norwegians deemed defense and security issues as most important prior to the last national election in 2021.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just five months later in 2022 seems to have changed all that, while Donald Trump’s election as US president has sparked lots of international turmoil and concern about his commitment to NATO. Stunned by Trump’s authoritarian rule and his attempts to launch a global trade war, rising numbers of Norwegians no longer think they can rely on the US as a longtime ally, while Russia once again poses a major threat after years of being a relatively good neighbour.
The threats have included suspected sabotage, spying and cyber attacks, with almost daily reports of unusual activity by Russian vessels off Norway’s long coastline. The Kirkenes-based Barents Observer follows the Russian activity closely, with recent stories charting, for example, how a bulk carrier believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” to avoid sanctions “zig-zagged” for three days in the Varanger Fjord off Norway’s far northern coast, while a Russian naval vessel fired shots during exercises in the Barents Sea, close to Norwegian territory. Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN), meanwhile, has reported how Russian “shadow fleet” ships have also been active off Norway’s west coast, raising more fears of sabotage to offshore oil and gas installations and undersea infrastructure.
The new poll by Respons Analyse confirms results of another poll just last month, in which 40 percent of Norwegians questioned “fully agreed” that Norway “must put a priority on increased defense funding” instead of any tax relief. Another 32 percent “quite agreed” while only 4 percent “firmly disagreed” with favouring defense funding over tax relief.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Lt Col Palle Ydstebø at Norway’s military college (Krigsskolen) told newspaper Dagsavisen, which along with the labour-oriented news service FriFagbevegelse had commissioned the poll by research firm Opinion.
“My impression is that people understand the seriousness of the times we’re living in,” Ydstebø said. “I’ve delivered lots of speeches on the war in Ukraine and met an unusually large number of people from all over the country who are deeply concerned and expect firm political handling (of defense issues).” There’s widespread support for a rapid military build-up in Norway, along with ongoing military support for Ukraine.
There have also been calls for a new so-called “war tax” to help finance the need for increased defense spending, instead of pulling extra money out of Norway’s large sovereign wealth fund known as the Oil Fund. Many, including economist Svein Olav Sæter, stress that the Oil Fund, built up over the past 30 years with revenues from Norway’s offshore oil and gas industry, “is our national savings account” and meant to finance pensions for future generations when oil revenues taper off. Sæter favours a tax based on individual wealth, writing in DN that its cost would be much less than the costs of any military action against Norway “by an aggressive foreign country.”
Yet another recent poll revealed that one out of six Norwegians thinks it’s “probable” that war will come to Norway within the next five years. That’s three times as high as a similar poll, research firm Opinion’s community monitor, showed just a year ago. Another 53 percent think war is “improbable,” but that’s down from 77 percent a year ago. Fully 60 percent don’t think Norway’s current defense will be strong enough if the country is attacked, and confidence in NATO has declined.
“There’s little doubt that (US President) Donald Trump has made the world a much more uncertain place,” said Nora Clausen of Opinion. “Confidence in the USA is fading at a tempo we’ve never seen before in modern history.”
Norway is already re-arming and planning the acquisition of five new frigates after taking delivery of the last of 52 new F35s from the US. Expanded military cooperation with the UK has led many to favour new frigates from the UK that would be compatible with British frigates in the North Sea and Arctic.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund